Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is entitled to his opinion and if he can find something wrong with the existing process, that we've failed, I'd gladly look at that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Bell. In regard to my statement that I made earlier in terms of management of caribou in the Northwest Territories, perhaps the first question I'd have for the Minister is what are the plans going forward with management of caribou in our territory and coupled with that, how could we put a plan in place for one herd, the Bathurst herd, without plans for the other herds? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We've had some discussion and there was some discussion last week about the Bathurst caribou management plan. So I think Members are all very well aware of the status of that management plan. There's also a Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou management plan prepared by those respective caribou management boards.

Mr. Speaker, in addition, there is the management plan for Cape Bathurst, Bluenose West and Bluenose East that was prepared, I understand, in 1998 and was accepted as general direction by the Wildlife Management Advisory Committee, also by Gwich'in Renewable Resource Board, Sahtu Renewable Resource Board and the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board. I understand there are also plans underway to determine the current status of these herds in summer 2005 and after that work is done those plans will be further updated. Those are the management plans for the various herds that I'm aware of to date in addition to the Bathurst plan. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the numbers that I draw attention to is the fact that through the management plan in 1986 there were 470,000 identified Bathurst caribou in the herd, and in 2003 there were 186,000. If you just look at it for the layperson, I'm not a biologist, but it looks like the bottom fell out of this herd when in fact if you add up all the numbers of the caribou on the mainland from the east coast of Hudson Bay to the Mackenzie River, there are over 600,000 animals there. So when are we going to start counting the entire caribou population and why is there this push to have individual management boards for each herd? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Two questions, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think it's important that we understand each of the individual herds and seek to manage these herds recognizing that in the overall context we're seeking to effectively manage caribou in general in the Northwest Territories. We believe, and I'm not a wildlife biologist, but we believe that we're able to track the caribou to their calving grounds. That allows us to make the distinction between the various herds. I believe the Bathurst herd is currently calving west of Bathurst Inlet, but I stand to be corrected on that. I think as we work to better develop our methodology and we invest more money in research in understanding these herds, it's important that we apply what we're learning to the effective management of the herds. To suggest that it's just too much work to do or it's much too difficult to make a distinction between the various herds I think is not effective management and not appropriate. We have to recognize the challenges before us, but I don't think we can advocate our responsibility to effectively manage the herds. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Going forward, how might we manage these herds? If you are out on a lake north of Yellowknife you could in fact be shooting a Bathurst caribou or another caribou and unless you are doing DNA sampling, how are you going to know which animals you are harvesting? Is the Minister saying that hunters and harvesters are going to have to take DNA samples from caribou in the future? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess the first step is to understand the range of the herd and understand herd dynamics. We're measuring a number of things to achieve this, but I guess the first step is to decide whether in fact a herd is being threatened, if the population is in decline, if it is in fact low and in specific reference to the Bathurst management plan, the plan proposes a number of potential steps should the herd be in decline or in fact low. We would work with the groups that have responsibility for managing the herds,

those very same groups that were on the committee, but we would also go out and make sure we work with all of the individual stakeholders and those who use the resource to understand their needs and propose a number of things that we might do to manage the herd. This is only after we have determined what steps were necessary. So difficulties like the one the Member has proposed would arise, I suspect. I'm sure the outfitters would make that point very clear to us that this would present a difficulty and we would have to deal with it at that point. But again, Mr. Speaker, there's been nothing proposed to date and I'm sure the Member is being facetious when he suggests DNA sampling, but I think we would work with outfitters to come up with a plan that makes sense and isn't ridiculous. I think it's very important that we seek to effectively manage these animals. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Two questions. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, we've already had initial contact and discussion with the NWT Association of Communities and we've had some discussion about the allocation of the MRIF and we've also had some early discussion on the gas tax. We're expecting to have our committee formed with our partners on this initiative with the federal government very shortly. I don't have exact dates, but I'm anticipating that will be within the next couple weeks. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In that regard, I'm wondering if some of this money can be utilized for some of the smaller communities and the hamlets where they can utilize it to gain access for resources to look at the pipeline that is coming up and everything else. Thank you, Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the money comes with a criteria attached to it. There is a requirement for these dollars to be directed towards a number of projects in the area, which are considered green projects, sustainable projects and those are mainly and mostly in the area of water and waste water. However, there are other things that can fit under the criteria. There is an allocation or an allowance for roads and bridges and other community infrastructure through this project funding. So we have not gone and decided which projects will be allocated, but there is money allocated for the tax-based and the non-tax-based and the criteria will be decided by the committee in the very near future.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm going to ask a question to the Minster of Transportation on the same subject. The statement that I made on February 15th had to do with transportation, also. Clarification, thank you.